Back to the Future
by dancingknives
Summary: The sisters take a trip in time and learn way more about their future family then they probably wanted! I love the idea of Uncle Cole and the bunnies wouldn't leave me alone on this... tell me if you think I should continue!
1. Chapter 1

"We ready?" Paige asked, red curls bouncing with impatience, "I gotta get back to work right after this, so hoping this won't take that long."

"It shouldn't," Phoebe nodded, flicking the spell over to her sister to read, "quick and easy, right, Piper?"

"Mmm hmm," the oldest sister agreed, "ok once we get there, I freeze, we chant, we vanquish, then we come back, go to work, and meet back at the Manor for dinner!"

The other two nodded and Paige moved to the center holding out the summoning spell for them all to read.

 _Demon that haunts we sisters three_

 _With this spell we turn the tide_

 _No place to run no place to hide_

 _Bring us hither to vanquish thee_

Golden orbs surrounded the sisters as Piper brought her hands together, ready to freeze the demon the moment they arrived.

 _When marimba rhythms start to play_

 _Dance with me, make me sway_

 _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore_

 _Hold me close, sway me more_

"Uh… where are we?" Paige asked looking around.

"It appears we're at a… jazz club… oh my god that singer is so hot!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Where? And is he the demon?" Paige wrinkled her nose in confusion as she turned to the stage where the crooner was giving a memorable performance.

"Wait, you guys, look at us!" Piper said looking down to find herself in an elegant black dress. Phoebe and Paige turned back to her and squealed, causing just a few tables to frown at them.

The sisters took a moment to examine themselves, dressed to the nines. Even the gold-rimmed plates and dainty spoons on the table spoke of elegance. Frantically they leaned their heads close together.

"Phoebe, what happened to your spell?"

"Wha? It was a good spell! It should have worked, I didn't say _Take us out on a fancy night on the town_ did I?"

"Well something must've gone wrong, crap, I am going to get fired if I miss the staff meeting this afternoon," Paige moaned. The two of them gave her a look. "Hey, I just started this job! It's not going to look well on my resume that I keep quitting or getting fired because of demon hunting!"

"Ok, then," Piper said, rolling her eyes, "back to the book?"

"Definitely," Phoebe nodded. The three of them shifted out of their corner booth, dodged a few very harried waiters and smitten couples dancing to the music, and piled into the bathroom. Checking that they were alone, Paige grasped a hand from each sister and orbed them to the Manor in a swirl of blue.

"Hey, this place looks different," Piper said, frowning at the decorations and plants she'd never seen before lining their foyer.

"Well, we look different, so who knows what the spell did to us, or the house, whatever," Paige said throwing up her hands in frustration.

"Wait, I hear voices," Phoebe said stepping forward. "Kids voices?"

They cautiously made their way into the sunroom where, before they even had a chance to process the playpens and scattered toys in front of them, two kids, a boy and a girl ran out and screamed "Mommy!" before latching on to Paige's legs, causing her to nearly stumble in her dress and heels.

"Wha?!" Phoebe exclaimed but was quickly cut off by one of the new arrivals.

"Mommy," the little girl said tugging at Paige's purse, "you home early!"

"Yah!" the boy chimed in enthusiastically, "but Unc Leo been teaching us to orb, wanna see?" (He pronounced it _awb_ and Phoebe squee'd a little inside.)

"Uh…" Paige stammered, still shellshocked.

"Your spell took us to the future!" Piper ground out of the corner of her mouth at Phoebe accusatorily.

Before any of them could say anything more though, Leo walked into the room and also proclaimed his surprise, "what are you doing back so soon? Didn't you like the cruise?"

"The cruise?" Piper queried as Paige continued to stare helplessly at the two kids who were both trying to tell her cool new things they'd been learning.

"Are you guys OK?" Leo said, sensing something was amiss at the way the girls were acting.

That immediately changed the attitude of the two kids, who then stared up at them and started throwing in their own questions, "Mommy? Are you OK?" "Yeah aunties, are you feeling funny?"

Paige still hadn't quite collected her jaw from the floor yet, but managed to stammer out, "Uh yes… I'm OK… er… um… you!" She finished lamely, realizing she didn't know any of the kids' names.

"Hey Amy, Adam, why don't you guys continue practicing, that way you can show your mom everything you've been learning after I have a quick chat with her and your aunts?"

"Yeah!" the two chorused as Leo led the sisters into the kitchen, with Paige still looking over their shoulders in disbelief.

"Alright, what's going on?" Leo asked bluntly once the door swung shut behind them.

The girls looked back guiltily.

"We cast a spell—" Phoebe began.

"—we were trying to track down this demon to vanquish him—" Piper continued,

"—but something definitely went wrong because it backfired and now we're in the future and I have kids, and oh god, I need to sit down," Paige finished breathlessly.

"Okaaaay," Leo said, "well, did you find the demon? Did he come to the future somehow?"

"Not unless he's a hot jazz singer," Phoebe said.

Piper rolled her eyes, "no, we didn't, and I don't think the demon's here. I think the spell was a total bust, we found ourselves in the middle of this jazz club, well," she corrected, "apparently a _cruise_."

"She's right," Phoebe commented, "the spell was supposed to bring us right in front of him, and instead we found ourselves in a crowded room, dressed like this," she motioned to her dress, "and no demon in sight. I think the wording was just off."

"Well," Leo began, "Ok, that's easy to fix, we'll just send you back to your time with another spell, and that should fix everything."

"Wait!" Paige exclaimed, "I have kids! I want to know about my kids!" She said excitedly. "When is this anyway?"

Leo sighed, "no, no future information, I know you've time traveled since Paige, and I know I've said this before, so let's just get you all home before anyone else sees you or you learn anything else about this time."

"Good idea!" Paige nodded, "but since you're from this time, and you know the book best, why don't you look at it with Phoebe and Piper, and meanwhile, I want to see my kids orb!"

Leo frowned disapprovingly and was about to speak up but Paige beat him to it, "after all, someone needs to keep an eye on the kids while you guys are searching the book, right?"

Leo let out a puff of air, "well, ok I guess you're right. But," he said eyeing Paige sternly, "don't try to ask them anything, they don't know you're from the past and you don't want to take advantage of that, of your kids!" He said as Paige mumbled a quick yes and excitedly slipped back into the sunroom where Amy & Adam started eagerly talking to her again.

"Why couldn't we have just orbed up to the attic? This is so awkward" Phoebe complained as Leo walked behind them, hands like blinkers next to their eyes, trying to not have them accidentally peek at the family photos that now lined practically every hallway of the house. They finally arrived at the foot of the attic steps where Leo breathed a sigh of relief, content that nothing had been spoiled, and then explained as they continued walking up, "we're trying to set good examples for the kids, no unnecessary powers."

"Ok well, that might be a little extreme, I mean orbing is almost as natural as breathing for those kids I'm sure!" Piper said, as she turned the doorknob and opened the door.

"Oh!" was the sound of her sharp intake of breath as she opened the door.

Phoebe didn't even have time to ask her what was wrong until she stepped in and saw a sight that stopped her cold.

Cole.

Leo heard the women and panicked, thinking they must've seen something. But then he remembered that nothing in the attic could spoil anything. They had no pictures up there, and none on the walk up the last flight of stairs because of all the demon traffic. Except a second later and he too arrived on the landing and saw what they were looking at.

There, on the far end of the room on a love seat was Cole Turner. And not just Cole Turner. Cole Turner asleep, legs splayed out in front of him, a Harry Potter book turned upside down on his chest, and on either side of him, a boy dozing with his head rested against the demon's shoulder.

Leo mentally face-palmed and quickly (disgracefully) reached over the girls to pull the door closed softly, earning a glare from Piper. Phoebe was still not quite over what she'd seen yet and continued looking at the door after it closed.

"What the hell?"

"Why is Cole?"

"Is that Cole?!"

"Are those _our_ kids?"

"Wait that was Wyatt and Chris?"

The questions burst like a fire hydrant and Leo grimaced. "Ok, let's talk downstairs, and Paige can orb the book without them waking up."

He sped quickly down the stairs, leaving all questions unanswered and the girls, looking at each other with mixed emotions clearly written all over their faces, chasing him down the stairs.

"Look mommy, see!" Amy said as she proudly materialized across the room.

Paige clapped in genuine joy, "yes I do that was so great sweetie!"

"Mommy, now me!" Adam said as he orbed to join his sister, earning another round of clapping before the others came in.

"Amy, Adam," Leo said, "I'm sorry but I need to borrow your mom again, we'll be just a moment ok kiddoes?"

"Is this about a de—"

"No!" Leo said sharply, "No Adam, everything is fine, Mommy is fine, we're all fine." He placated as he grabbed Paige and pulled her into the living room against her protests.

"Why'd you have to do that? I was just getting to know them and they're soooo cute!" She gushed.

"We have bigger problems," Piper began, "Cole is upstairs."

"Cole is back?!" Paige nearly screamed, "Then maybe we did find a demon."

"No!" Leo interrupted. "Look ok everyone just sit down and I will explain!"

"Ok, you guys have to remember, you're in the future! You can't just see things and make sweeping judgments and make a big fuss because things are different!"

"Ok so, Cole is upstairs sleeping with my boys because?" Piper said, refusing to sit, instead she was crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"Who is sleeping with who?" Paige cried, earning a slap in the arm from Phoebe, "Oh, oh, oh of course, not like that…"

"Cole was reading the boys Harry Potter and they must have fallen asleep reading it."

"Leo!" Phoebe began exasperatedly, "why—"

"He was reading Harry Potter to them because the boys didn't want to study orbing and wanted to do something else." Leo finished.

Phoebe eyed him incredulously, "no not that why is he even here?"

Three sets of eyes stared at him. Despite the situation, all Leo could think was even out of place and out of time, the Charmed Ones were intimidating, no wonder every demon that tried to destroy their family failed.

"Look, I don't want to tell you anything because that could change the future and—"

"The future is already changed, Leo!" Paige said, "because now we're going to go right back home and find a way to vanquish Cole—again!"

"No!" Leo protested, "You can't! Ok ok, look. I'll tell you, just don't do anything rash."

They stared at him, Piper motioning with her hand impatiently for him to continue.

"Cole is, in the future, umm… he's the boys' uncle."

"WHAT?!" Three sets of voices shouted as Phoebe and Paige jumped up front the sofa.

"Everything ok?" A small voice asked from the sunroom.

"Yes! We're fine, stay there, just another minute!" Leo said back.

"Wait…" Phoebe said, putting together the puzzle in her head. "Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me. I married him didn't I? Or marry him don't I?"

Leo didn't say anything.

"Oh my god, why can't I ever be free of him, oh this can't be happening, I need to sit down," she said, collapsing back into the sofa as Piper sat down as well and comforted her. Only Paige was still standing now.

"Yeah, Leo, explain how this happens, and how I can prevent it."

"You can't prevent it," Leo said patiently, "I know this is a shock, but this is several years into the future. Things change, and honestly, Phoebe," he said crouching down and taking her hands away from her forehead and into his. "Phoebe listen, this was, _is_ meant to be. I know it's hard to see that now, but this is what's going to happen. And no, he's not going to corrupt Wyatt. Cole isn't evil. He's just a father."

Phoebe looked up, eyes glistening with tears not yet shed, and questioned, "wait, I have kids with him?"

Leo mentally slapped himself. "Um… yes… but forget that ok? Look forget all of this! Paige, just orb the book down here so we can find a spell to get you home, and maybe another one to wipe your memories."

"Oh my god I have kids with that demon—again!" Phoebe cried.

"No, we have to remember this so we can change this," Paige said stubbornly while Phoebe groaned into her Piper's shoulder.

No one had a chance to say anything else though because orbs filled the room and the next thing they knew, Cole was standing there with Wyatt and Chris.

"What's going on we heard screams," he said, "Phoebe you're crying, what's the matter? Did something happen on the cruise honey?"

Phoebe only wailed louder.

"Uh… ok Cole, stay here, Wyatt, Chris, do daddy a favor and go into the other room and show Amy and Adam some cool orbing tricks ok?"

"But mommy, are you staying home now?" Wyatt asked with a confused tilt of the head that Chris imitated.

"No, just had a little change in plans," Leo quickly jumped in, "Promise we'll tell you later, but just go and watch your cousins OK?"

"Ok," Wyatt said suspiciously, but still he took his hand out of Cole's, and led Chris into the sunroom.

As soon as the kids were gone, Cole reached forward, "Phoebe, what—"

Before he could get closer, though, Paige had cut off his path and glared at him.

"Paige, what—" he started, "wait…" Cole looked at Leo who just shook his head and sighed. "Let me guess, you're from the past."

Even Piper looked up in surprised, "how did you know?"

Cole chuckled and gestured to Paige, "because she hasn't look at me like that in years."

"How do I look at you now?" Paige challenged, "like this?" She said making a face of even greater disgust.

Cole laughed, "don't do that, your face might freeze that way."

Paige looked offended, and Leo jumped in again. "Yes, Cole, short version, spell went awry, somehow the girls came forward in time into their future bodies, and they're learning too much information about the future," he said, staring at them meaningfully, "so we need to find a spell, and put everything back before too much craziness changes."

"No," Paige said, reaching for the book, "we need to find a spell to go back and change this terrible—" she gestured wildly in Cole's direction with one hand and flipping pages with another, "—whatever reality this is!"

"Paige," Leo said taking the book from her despite a hefty glare, "you can't change this future. This future is good, it's great even! I mean you have kids with—" he caught himself "—uh… you have kids, and they're wonderful, the twins. And Wyatt and Chris are healthy and beautiful. And Phoebe," at her name, she looked up at him, purposefully avoiding Cole's eyes, "I know you don't see it now, but you have a great life, too, and wonderful kids who love you very much, and—"

He was interrupted by golden orbs filling the room.

"Wyatt? Chris?" Piper said to the adult versions of her boys who suddenly appeared.

"And… who're you?" Paige said, to the third person who appeared with the other two.

"I'm Ben," the stranger announced.

On the bright side, Cole thought, the world hadn't imploded yet. Ben, his son from the future, had just appeared in front of him. There were a few moments of hugs, mainly for Cole and Leo from the boys; they tried to hug the sisters but Leo jumped in sensibly.

"Ok everyone, listen up."

"The Piper, Paige, and Phoebe that you see here are from the past, a past where apparently Phoebe and Cole haven't gotten together yet, so there's a bit of awkwardness (Leo hurried on seeing Ben's frown), and clearly Wyatt, Chris, and Ben you guys are from the future. Now, we need to figure out what everyone is doing here so we can send you back before the timelines get any more mixed up. The girls got here because they were trying to track down and vanquish some kind of demon, but it backfired. Now, Wy, Chris, Ben, why are you here?"

"Adam and Amy disappeared!" Ben cried, causing Paige's head to shoot up.

"What do you mean disappeared?" She asked, in a few moments already fully accustomed and used to the fact that they would be her kids.

"That's just that, we were just having dinner when they vanished! Caused an uproar in the restaurant and we had to first cast a spell to make everyone forget." Chris said.

"So we cast a spell to guide us to when they disappeared and it took us here." Wyatt concluded.

Three sisters and three cousins looked at each other and then at Leo.

"Well, ok clearly the timeline is already messed up," he groaned pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is why I tried to keep you from learning anything about the future. Man, Cole, why did you have to be in the attic?!"

Cole shrugged, "that's where we keep Harry Potter."

Leo sighed. "Ok, Paige, see you have to stop thinking you're going to change this."

"What? Hey why are you blaming me? I wouldn't change the future to make my own kids nonexistent!"

"I know! But you're going to try to change the future to vanquish Cole, right?"

"Wait… why would Aunt Paige try to—"

"—Ben my boy," Cole said as he slung an arm around his future son's shoulders. "That's a story for another day, why don't we get a little better acquainted upstairs, and we'll come down when this is all sorted out?"

"Sure dad," he said brightly.

"Wyatt, Chris, you better go with them, too," Leo said to the adult versions of his kids.

"Wait, can't you stay?" Piper interjected.

"No we need to figure this out first," Leo firmly said and waived them off. ("So Uncle Cole, Ben told us you could do this sweet trick with your conjuring power that we haven't seen yet!" they could hear Wyatt say excitedly as they went up.)

Piper furiously gestured after them to Leo, "he is a demon he still has powers! And you just left him alone with our kids!"

Paige nodded her head in agreement. Only Phoebe seemed still out of it, only looking for a moment at the direction the four went, before turning back to Leo.

"Ok you guys enough of this!" Leo said, "If they came back here to find out what's changed, the only thing that's changed is your attitude toward Cole! Look if you'd just stayed in the past, things would have resolved themselves in their own time, and we'd be fine. But now, you're going to go back and get it in your head to try to find Cole and vanquish him, and I don't know, somehow you're not successful because Ben is still alive, but Paige you do mess up your future, because Amy and Adam don't exist anymore."

Paige was still trying to think of something to say to counter the assertion that she would ever mess with her kids like that before Piper jumped in, "well that wouldn't make any sense, then why did the spell bring them here, to the… middle future, and not to the past when we did change something?"

"Because now is when your _minds_ changed, and that's enough, look time travel is complicated…" Leo said.

"So how do we not change our minds?" Phoebe said, finally finding some words to say.

"Phoebe!" Paige cried.

"She's right," Piper said, causing Paige to direct a look at her, "look I don't like the future either, but it's not our time to understand, or to judge the future, and it's probably best if we can forget this entire thing."

Paige crossed her arms, "whatever."

"Leo, don't you have some memory powder you can just dust us with?" Piper asked.

"No… we no longer use memory dust outside of accidental exposure to mortals. It's a violation of free will otherwise. If magic brought you were, just like it's done before, we can't just make you forget."

"Well, I can't just forget on my own!" Paige said petulantly.

"You're going to have to!" Leo said, "otherwise—"

He didn't have a chance to finish before Wyatt and Chris younger orbed in. "Mom! Dad!" "Aunt Paige, Aunt Phoebe!"

"We can't find Adam and Amy!"

"Yeah, we was playing orb hide and seek but they haven't orbed back and we can't find them anywhere and we're so sorry," Chris cried, on the verge of tears, holding onto Leo's hand with both of his.

"Oh Chris, don't worry, we know where they are. They um… we had to borrow them." Leo finished lamely.

"Are you sure? Sure it's not because of us?" Wyatt said sniffling and holding onto Piper who was stroking his hair.

"No sweetie, it's not," she said. "We adults just have to um… work out some things so we took Adam and Amy, sorry we forgot to tell you."

"Actually, boys, we still need to work out some things, why don't you uh… go find Ben and them and hang out for a bit?"

"Ok! Yay we're coming Uncle Kyle!"

Leo grimaced and mentally face-palmed again as the kids orbed out and Paige turned to him with a surprised look on her face.

Leo threw up his hands in defeat.

Chris was 2 at end of series

If Paige conceived shortly therafter, her kids are 5, chris is 7

Phoebe's kids are 3 and 4


	2. Chapter 2

The four of them marched up the stairs in silence. The sounds from the attic, pops and booms, and some hoots from the three boys as Cole showed off a new trick grew as they climbed. But the girls were each engrossed deeply in their thoughts. Phoebe was of course thinking about Cole. Paige was thinking about Henry (they'd just gotten married in her present) and what it all meant. And Piper, she was noticing how Leo looked like he'd love nothing more than to join the attic party, but then remembered the severity of the situation and shoved that part of him to the side. She smiled, he was still the one keeping them all grounded.

The guys looked up when they entered. Once again Leo was the first to speak.

"Ok I think the best solution is to send the girls back, to a point just before they left for the future. If we do that, in theory, it should erase their memories without violating free will, since they're voluntarily choosing to go back to a prior moment in time, and then that should fix the timeline, we should get Amy and Adam back, and then we can send the boys back. Wyatt, can you, Chris and Ben work on the potion? Piper, you, Paige, and Phoebe can work on the spell, and Cole and I will set up the portal." Sensing the seriousness in Leo's tone, everyone scattered without further debate (the fact that Ben flamed out drawing gasps from the sisters).

"You know," Cole whispered to a nearby Leo, setting up the candles, as he drew the triquetra, "this does make me a little curious, if what happened was the girls' minds changed, then how does it end up with consequences for Amy & Adam?"

Leo looked to make sure the girls weren't paying them enough attention before whispering back, "I'm not sure, I figure maybe they tried so hard to vanquish you, Paige & Henry divorced before they could conceive?"

Cole remained unconvinced, "Yeah, sure, but then she _must_ have succeeded. Never has there been a more stubborn witch in all of history."

Leo chuckled, even against the obstinacy that all the Halliwell women shared, Paige was a special case. They didn't have much more time to dwell on it before they heard the blink.

"What's this?" The female voice mocked? "A family reunion?"

And she attacked, throwing fireballs simultaneously at each of them. They all orbed or teleported out of the way but somehow she had fireballs waiting right when they appeared again. Leo couldn't reach fast enough and her fireball blew him up in a scatter of orbs; he reformed in a corner, knocked cold. "Leo!" Piper screamed but in her distraction she too was hit by a fireball and flew back unconscious against the wall. Paige, Phoebe, and Cole managed to orb and teleport again to avoid the second wave. Paige orbed Phoebe behind the woman, and the martial artist levitated up to deliver a kick, but the woman simply turned around, caught her foot, and threw her back with a grin. "Athame!" Paige shouted hurling the weapon still halfway orbed in the newcomer's direction. The athame struck nothing but the antique wood cabinetry as the warlock blinked again. Cole looked around, sensing where she would appear next and he was ready with an energy ball in that direction, but she merely laughed as the ball passed right through her form. "Clone!" he spat.

"What's going on is everyone alri—" they heard the echo of Wyatt's voice as the boys orbed back into the attack. She grinned and in a puff of smoke, a crossbow appeared in her hands.

"No!" Cole yelled as he jumped forward, taking the arrow meant for Wyatt in the stomach.

"Uncle Cole!" Wyatt cried, and in his rage blindly directed a wave of power at the woman. She only laughed as it destroyed another clone form. In a mere second she had reappeared in another part of the room, an arrow flying toward Chris. Ben raised his hand and a jet of fire flew forth that destroyed the arrow. Chris meanwhile flung his arm out to send the warlock flying but she merely raised her left hand, and countered, somehow sending Chris flying instead.

Wyatt snarled furiously and both he and Ben raised their hands to end her but in a moment she blinked behind Paige with an arrow pressed to their aunt's neck.

"No no my dears, if you make a move, I will kill her with this arrow. And Paige sweetie, if you try to orb out, I'll stab you anyway. This arrow will work even when you're orbing, unless you'd dare to try?"

They stopped their attacks, but made no move to lower their hands. Heavy breathing filled the air.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Ben demanded.

"You are in no position to speak to me like that child," she said calmly. "I think I will do the talking. Now, Paige sweetie, I've come a long way to ask you this question. Where is your husband, hmm?"

 _Henry?_ Paige's mind raced. What did he have to do with anything? And was he even her husband in this world? Otherwise why would baby Wyatt have said Uncle Kyle?

"Henry?" she heard a bemused voice whisper back to her. _Oh no_ , Paige thought, _did I blurt out his name?_

"Well, that's good, you must not be from this time!" She crowed with laughter, and pressed the arrow even harder against Paige's neck, drawing blood. Paige gasped as the warlock whispered into her ear. "Do you know that I have literally traveled hundreds of timelines, possibly killed Kyle and even another man named Richard dozens of times and yet each time failed to kill your brats? I guess I never found an early enough version of you to be married to a man named _Henry_. Well thank you my dears, I'll be seeing you again I'm sure!" And with that she blinked out.

The next moments were fuzzy in everyone's recollection. Paige, Wyatt, and Ben rushed to check on the sisters, Chris, Leo, and Cole. Once Leo was revived, he quickly healed everyone but Cole. Paige bit her tongue down to keep from asking if it was because he's demonic, but Leo must've sensed her thoughts anyway; he simply stated, "the sisters put a charm on Cole so that I can heal him."

Ben, Wyatt, and Chris hovered nervously as Cole groaned bathed under the golden light.

"Damn it, I need to remove the arrow," Leo stated, "Normally my powers should be strong enough to heal him and dispel the arrow, but for whatever reason it's not working. Wyatt, Chris, give me a hand and—"

"No," Cole said.

"What?" Ben cried, "Dad we're trying to help sa—!"

"Not that way you won't. I can feel the magic, it's a Darklighter's Barb."

"A what?" Phoebe asked with genuine concern.

"Oh no," Leo whispered. "A Darklighter's Barb is a special arrow, rare because only the highest level Darklighters… sort of like the Darklighter equivalent of an Elder are allowed to carry them. The arrow guarantees death, because if it's removed, it curses the bearer with immediate death, but if not removed, the Darklighter poison will eventually kill."

"But Cole isn't a Whitelighter?" Paige asked

Cole chuckled then grimaced, "which probably would have saved me if the arrow hadn't hit me in the stomach."

Wyatt slumped forward and gently placed a hand on Cole's shoulder.

"Why would you do such a thing?" He whispered, half to himself.

"Better me than you, kid. Besides, I'll die slower from blood loss than you would have from the poison."

Wyatt silently looked up again at Chris and Ben, both equally distraught, but no one missed how red his eyes were. Piper turned away.

"How do we fix this?" Phoebe asked, distracting herself from a welling of emotion. She too was ready to cry for the ex-demon.

Leo looked at her, and if Piper weren't his wife she would have missed the way his voice trembled or his hands shook. "I need to tell you all the truth."

The sisters and Leo sat on the sofas downstairs. Wyatt, Chris, and Ben were working on various means to staunch the blood flow from the arrow wound and prolong Cole's life.

"Ok, we don't have a lot of time so here's the short version. Amy & Adam in the distant future, far beyond even the adult children's time, become the Source of All Good. This… warlock must be trying to prevent that from happening by killing their parents."

"Why not just kill me?" Paige wondered aloud, then grimaced at herself.

"Well… it's uh… it's not because of you. You see, the Source of All Evil is the embodiment of evil only. But the Elders made the Source of All Good to be the embodiment all all good entities—whitelighter, good witch, and good mortals, or, since mortals are neutral, the Source came from a lineage of mortals undeniably pure. That's Henry's lineage."

"I don't understand…" Piper began.

"Well she said she's tried hundreds of times, right? She must've killed you in some other timeline, but it didn't work because the secret is in Henry's blood. I guess either way he marries a half whitelighter half witch."

"So… it's easier to find a half whitelighter half witch than a purely good mortal? That's depressing" Phoebe mumbled to herself.

"How has she gotten so many opportunities without changing the timeline for worse?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, time travel is… complicated. Phoebe, think about how many innocents your premonitions have allowed you to save. There are at any given point hundreds of potential outcomes, permutations of different situations, contexts. Maybe in one life, you and Henry get married and divorced before you conceive, or stuff like that. She's trying to track down all the possibilities, and it looks like she may have found the one today, because Amy and Adam did disappear from this time and the future, so something must have happened to them."

"Go back to that, Leo, so the kids are Henry's, but I'm with Kyle, now?"

Leo sighed, this would be hard. "Paige, Henry was… killed by a demon attack soon after you conceived. The twins never knew him, but you met and fell in love with Kyle afterward. When we realized how important the twins would become, we, or you in the future rather, cast a spell to erase all memory of Henry from the family, to protect his legacy and to ensure that evil could never trace him."

Paige's jaw dropped and the hurt was clear in her eyes. Piper leaned into her shoulder for comfort and Phoebe dropped her head, knowing the pain her sister must be feeling.

"It was, I think, one of the most difficult decisions we've ever had to make," Leo said.

"I still don't understand, Leo, this warlock clearly has time magic, how has she never gone back far enough to see Paige & Henry married?" Phoebe persisted, knowing they were short on time, and the only way to end this nightmare would be to move forward.

"Good point, I don't know how she's traveling through time, but we need to find out."

"Could this be it?" Phoebe asked. Even though the book had grown by volumes since her present, she was still the best at navigating its perpetually ancient pages. She read aloud:

 _Time witches. A small coven of witches who developed power over time. Persecuted since Salem by mortals, but never found, their ranks were nevertheless gradually decimated by demons and warlocks who coveted their power. No known time witches are in existence today. A time witch cannot travel boundlessly through time. Rather, she must latch onto the residual magic from a strong time spell. The residual magic of the spell is what allows her to travel to a different time, even if she would otherwise not have the power needed to complete such a spell herself._

"So the warlock stole a time witch's power, and uses it to travel only to times when other magical beings have traveled in time, which means—"

"—it's all our fault…" Paige concluded, almost whimpering, "we brought her here, and I said Henry's name, which she never would have known." She put her head down morosely, fresh tears flowing down her face. How could she have just killed the sweet children she just met?

Phoebe walked up to sit on her other side, rubbing her back while she leaned deeply against Piper.

"Why didn't the spell take her to our present?" Phoebe asked, intent on seeing all the pieces of the puzzle.

"That power is a bit… random. She's taken to where the residual magic is strongest. Sometimes it's the time you leave, sometimes it's the time you end up in." Leo explained.

"So that means she went back to a time…" Phoebe started, frowning "…to a time between our present and now, before Paige and Henry conceived, because she's definitely not pregnant—(she looked to her sister for confirmation and Paige shook her head, face even more bunched up in anguish)—in our time."

"Yes—"

"—wait," Piper interjected. "When we first got here Amy & Adam were… uh…" she continued, "so that means that she couldn't have gone to any time earlier in time from when we left. But that time that Chris and Wyatt came from the future to help us with Billie & Christie, why didn't she come then? Paige and Henry were married then."

Leo shrugged, "maybe it wasn't a Power of Three spell so there wasn't enough residual magic, or maybe the magic brought her to when they left, which would have been when Amy & Adam were still alive."

"None of that matters," Paige said, wiping her eyes. They looked at her to see how she'd respond, "the only thing that matters is that our spell brought her here, and I told her about Henry, a name she never would have known otherwise. We need to fix this. We need to go back to the past, to before we left, and make it so this whole thing doesn't happen. We need to save the future."

"That may not work, time magic is complex, remember that time Piper you went back to the past to stop your sisters and Billie & Christie from killing each other? How your future self and your past self merged? If that happens again nothing will have changed." Leo explained.

"So then let's bring her here, and vanquish her once and for all," Phoebe said, a determined tone to her voice.

"We'll give that bitch a source of time magic she can't ignore…"

"…and pull her here even if she resists…"

"…then vanquish her where she stands."

Leo nodded. It was their only chance.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey," Phoebe said, entering her old bedroom and so unsure of where to began.

The bedroom was clearly a child's now, decorated in an array of happy sun-faces, stuffed animals, and toys. Cole lay on the bed looking like a giant on the small twin sized mattress. The arrow still protruding grotesquely from his middle, but at least at the base, she saw a green salve had been applied that seemed to stem the flow of blood. Ben looked up from where he was, sitting at the edge of the bed, holding his father's hand.

"I uh, wanted to let you know we have a plan—"

"—to save Amy & Adam, but not to save Dad." Ben said.

A cough punctuated Cole's otherwise lighthearted laugh and they both winced. "He teleported downstairs and listened to you talking with Leo. Be careful in the future, this one's nosy."

Ben gently swatted his father's thigh, but still looked at Phoebe accusingly.

"How could you not try to save him?"

"Ben," Cole said, "don't talk to your mother like that."

"She's not my mother," Ben said, and Phoebe's heart broke a little bit. Was this her punishment? "She doesn't even care. I asked Wyatt and Chris about the time they're from, how could you have been so horrible to him?" He looked up at her and his eyes shown with tears. This was probably the first time she got a good look at him. The angular face with lines unmistakably Cole's, but a softness to his lips that could only have come from Phoebe. Dark brown hair that she might have mistaken for brunette. And the most beautiful hazel eyes, that now only stared at her with reproach. She would never forget that look.

Before Phoebe could say anything, Cole jumped in, "Ben, would you mind giving us a moment?"

"But—"

"—please."

Ben wordlessly got up and brushed past Phoebe without looking her in the eye. She watched his back leave the room. And now suddenly she was afraid to turn around and look at Cole, afraid that her eyes could only carried the regret of a long extinguished love, and afraid of what that might do to him now, in this state.

Cole chuckled, "he's a teenager, he doesn't understand yet."

She turned but still lowered her face, "Cole, I'm—"

"—Phoebe, look at me, please."

She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. "You're beautiful." He said simply.

She swallowed. "What happened to us, Cole?"

He smiled, "Haven't we been here before? How many times have you asked me that question? Will you ask?"

"But I think, this time, I'm ready to listen," she said. "I see how he adores you, how they _all_ adore you. Leo is like, your best friend."

Cole smiled, "I help him unleash his dark side."

She smiled back, "please, Cole. I've made so many mistakes. Including mistakes I've made with a son I just met. I want to fix us when I go back. Help me figure out how."

And he told her. He told her about The Seer's machinations that led to the Source taking him over. He told her about, in his last moments of humanity he tried to expunge the evil within but The Seer tricked his very own Phoebe into sealing his fate. He told her about his one goal with the Avatars. And she listened. Uncharacteristically she never said a word until he was finished, never interrupted once. Cole finished and closed his eyes.

Phoebe reached forward to grasp his hand. "I'm sorry I asked you to tell me this. But I have to believe I was meant to know, and that maybe I wasn't ready to know until now. Cole," she said softly. "I think I've made just as many mistakes in our relationship, but I want you to know, when I go back, I'm going to fix it."

"In my time," he whispered, "Coop helped get us back together."

She smiled, "I don't think I need a Cupid anymore."

"Ava," Piper read, matching the warlock's face to the image in the book, "one of the most powerful warlocks to have ever existed. For centuries, she has stolen the power of witches after they were attacked by other demons, never drawing attention to herself. Her true motives are unclear, as are the exact number of powers she has amassed. In the only known encounter between her and a witch in the 19th century, she had demonstrated Deflection, Cloning, Fireballs, Lightning Strikes, and Telekinesis. Because the extent of her power is unknown, there is no known vanquish."

"So we'll make the strongest potions we know how to make." Paige said with a steely determination.

"We can help, mom" Chris said.

"Yeah," Wyatt added, "potions are stronger in our time, we've found different ways of innovating."

"Great," Piper smiled, eager to spend some time with her boys.

"I can write a spell to summon her here, I'll use the power of the six of us, and ensure she has no way out." Ben chimed in, still hesitant about working with these women who clearly didn't know how to deal with him, but eager to put an end to the warlock.

Wyatt and Chris clapped a hand on either of Ben's shoulders as they headed to the kitchen, "Ben is the best spell writer from any generation of Halliwells, he can do it."

Ben blushed a bit, but left to began writing.

"Phoebe," Paige said, noticing that since her conversation with Cole, she was looking better, "you and I can plan the strategy of attack."

"It won't be easy, because at any moment in time, there's residual time magic somewhere in the timeline, so you'll have to keep her from both blinking out to a different place and from blinding out to a different time once she's summoned, but she'll probably just deflect Piper's freezing power if you use it on her." Leo warned.

"Got it, don't worry we'll cover every angle, she won't have anywhere to go."

"Ok, well I'm going to orb to Kyle now, tell him to take the kids up to keep them safe—Kyle's a whitelighter," he added at Paige's questioning look, "and then when I get back I'll stay with Cole, maybe I can use my powers to at least slow down the arrow's effects."

"Please, Leo," Phoebe called as he orbed out, "he can't die today, not because of me."

"Ok is everyone clear on the plan?" Paige said, as she poured the contents of a potion bottle on the ground.

They all nodded solemnly and then joined hands. Leo watched anxiously next to them, hoping he was ready to play his part.

 _We open a portal_

 _Door unknown to mortals_

 _To all of time_

 _With this rhyme_

 _But keep us bound_

 _Chains to present wound_

 _Our work is here_

 _Bring our target near_

 _Now, past, present, future_

 _Stolen power whither_

 _Time magic turn_

 _So you may burn_

 _We call you to now_

 _We call you to bow_

 _You cannot resist_

 _Our power of six_

A light wind picked up as they chanted and swirled around the attack before focusing like a tornado against the chalk triquetra. In a moment, the portal opened, and they readied themselves.

"Like I would be that predictable," they heard from behind them just before she attacked.

Again she hurled fireballs at all of them with precision. Even though they were ready, Paige didn't orb out of the way fast enough, and groaned in pain as the energy hit her arm and sent her flying into the other wall. She crumbled on the ground, the flesh on her arm sizzling.

Piper raised her arms.

"No, Piper, she'll deflect the freeze!" Phoebe cried.

Ava grinned at them and launched a lightning strike. Wyatt countered with lightning of his own. Meanwhile Ben snuck up behind her and threw the potion, but she jumped and let Ben's potion and Wyatt's lightning destroy each other. The blast radius was unpredictably large, however, and she stumbled a bit. Giving Chris the opening he needed to telekinetically fling multiple potion vials from across the room at her.

She reacted quickly, throwing fireballs at all the potions and laughing all the while as they exploded before meeting their target.

"Phoebe!" Paige moaned, briefly looking up before collapsing again. Ava whipped to her right and saw that Phoebe had levitated to just outside her peripheral vision and was about to launch another potion at her. With one hand she tossed Chris into Wyatt while with the other she launched a bolt of lightning at Phoebe.

Ben was just about to throw fire at her when he saw his mother get hit. Momentarily forgetting his earlier argument, he ran to her aid. Ava laughed and Ben hurled fire at her while Chris called out, "Wyatt, the last potion! While she's distracted!"

But Ava's reflexes were far beyond any enemy they'd experienced, and she telekinetically moved the potion into the path of Ben's fire.

"Potion!" Paige called, hoping the double distraction plan worked. She willed her power to not let her down, even as her arm was crying out in pain. The potion she tossed on the floor earlier, where it blended perfectly with the woodwork and was completely unnoticed, flew and hit Ava in the eyes.

"Aagh!" She screamed as she furiously wiped the liquid away. "You may have stopped me from blinking through space but I can still blink through time! I'll just restart this fight until I—"

Leo raised his arms and freezed her in that very moment. But having accumulated as many powers as she had, Ava was fighting through the freeze. Piper reached into her pocket and tossed the last two potions at her, sending her flying and dazed against the wall but unvanquished. Leo freezed her again as she tried to get up.

"Hurry!" he called.

They all rapidly orbed to Paige's side, as she was least mobile, and rapidly joined hands.

 _We call upon the witches lost_

 _Powers stolen with nary a cost_

 _Spirits from the other side_

 _Help us now to turn the tide_

 _Let our potion strip away_

 _Any power she has today_

 _Let our potion burn to ash_

 _Her immortality so let it pass_

 _With our final voice we seek_

 _To avoid a future ever so bleak_

 _Take this evil take her now_

 _Erase this Ava, warlock so foul_

"Potion!" they cried, and the final vanquishing potions, bolstered by the power of six, emerged from the various nooks and crannies that they'd been hidden in and flew toward her. Just as Ava broke free of the freeze and just before Leo was about to freeze her again, they hit her and she screamed. She screamed as fire erupted from her. She screamed as she realized she couldn't blink to another time. She screamed as she realized they'd tricked her, switching Piper & Leo's power so he'd freeze her. She screamed as she realized there was nothing to deflect when one was already being destroyed. And she screamed a final scream knowing she failed.

When the smoke cleared, Piper quickly reached down and held her hands up against Paige's arm, letting the healing light close her sister's open wounds.

"Thanks," Paige said, wincing as she raised herself up on her arm, testing its strength. "Did we do it?"

"I think so," Leo said, "Kyle just sensed Amy & Adam again, and he orbed them up as well."

"Interesting spells," Piper said to Ben.

" _Good_ spells," Phoebe quickly added.

But Ben's mind was elsewhere. "Dad!" he cried, immediately teleporting out, with Wyatt & Chris orbing close behind.

"With the commotion upstairs I was worried." Cole said calmly as they gathered around him.

"We got 'em Dad!" Ben said, burying his face into the bed.

Wyatt and Chris steadied him on either side but they were also concerned. They could all see how much paler Cole had gotten.

"Cole, I um…" Paige began, "I just want to apologize. I want you to know that and um…"

"…thank you for saving my son," Piper finished, "thank you for saving our family."

"Dad, I don't want to…" Ben sniffed, "I don't want to go back without you, please please how can we save you?"

Cole just smiled and looked up at them through half-lidded eyes. "Everything happens for a reason Ben, even this," he looked at Phoebe meaningfully, "I have a feeling I'll still be around in the future. I wouldn't leave you." He nodded, and Phoebe, barely able to see through her tears, pulled out a last piece of paper from her pocket.

 _Brave warriors brave children_

 _The future is safe, as it is written_

 _Send them back to when they came_

 _Spare them further death and pain_

"No!" Chris cried as the three of them, still kneeling by the bed, turned to look at the sisters.

Phoebe's last sight was Ben's eyes, full of betrayal, as the golden orbs swallowed them up and took them away.

She sobbed into Piper's shoulder. "It… w-w-we had to spare them, we decided… we—"

"Shh… I know sweetie," Piper said, stroking her hair, but without much words to say to her sister in comfort. She was hurting, too.

Leo sighed, the pain heavy in his heart. So much to lose in such a short period of time. "Now you have to go back to. To make sure none of this happens, save this future, for all of our sakes."

"Cole!" Phoebe cried, but he was already past responding. "Cole!" She cried out again, but Paige grabbed her arm and orbed the three of them to the attack. The last thing they saw was Leo kneeling down, right where Ben had been moments earlier, and place a hand on Cole's shoulder.

They returned exactly as they left, but all of them more morose. When the golden orbs stopped and their feet were planted back firmly on the ground, they tensed. When at last it was deemed the original demon was not going to show up, Piper immediately headed to the TV, turned it on to the news station, and checked that they were in fact back in their own time, just before they left.

Phoebe shakily sat down. The weight of the future still on her mind and in her heart.

Paige joined her. Even though she knew her future was saved, she hadn't really gotten to see it (they left before Kyle orbed down, not wanting to further mess with the timeline), and it unnerved her how close they were to losing their family.

Piper joined them a moment later.

"Ok, so, next we still have to vanquish our demon…" Paige said.

"…then we need to find Cole," Phoebe added.

"I think I might know where to look," Piper said with a smile.


	4. Notes

The plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone was the idea of Cole being a good father figure to the next generation. Somehow it became a ficlet, but then I didn't want to leave folks hanging and then I realized I involved too much time travel and it became complicated, so I tried to move the whole thing through to finish. (I'm also in an airport!) Given all that I hope you liked it and it doesn't read too sloppy or improbable.

I'd like to still post snapshots to this story, snapshots of family life, because again, still I just like the idea of a Charmed family =)

Thanks for reading!


	5. Babysitting

"Hey big guy, what do we have here?"

"Fire twuck! Zoom zoom!" Chris said happily, pushing the large red toy across the floor.

Cole chuckled as he knelt down and ruffled Chris' hair. The kid was too adorable sometimes.

Heels clicked and Piper came in a moment later, holding Wyatt by the hand and practically dragging him along. Cole smiled at his pouty face, "Wyatt, I promise we'll have lots of fun, so much you won't even miss your mom. In fact, she'll be missing you! She'll miss she were here having fun with us."

Wyatt looked up at him, some hope shining through the doubt and sadness in his eyes. He took Cole's hand as Piper bent down to kiss him on the forehead. "That's right sweetie, Mommy and Daddy would much rather stay with you and Chris then go to Greece, we heard Uncle Cole has big plans for you two!"

Once she straightened up she rolled her eyes at Cole, as if they would turn down the opportunity at a second honeymoon. Paige had won a trip for 2 in her office lottery. But being the workaholic she is, couldn't find a way to take time off across her responsibilities to do it, especially now that she was balancing more than one Charge. Phoebe, being pregnant, definitely couldn't go, and so she gave the trip to Piper & Leo as an anniversary present and they were thrilled. The sisters promised to keep everything under control.

Cole leaned down and whispered something conspiratorially in Wyatt's ear that caused the boy to light up with a grin and run off.

Piper looked at her brother-in-law suspiciously. "You'd better not take him and Chris to vanquish any demons," she admonished.

Cole cleared his throat, not exactly denying the charges, "we'll be fine, and look Leo is here."

Just then a swirl of blue orbs filled the spot where Wyatt had been standing next to Piper. Leo appeared with a bright smile and a bag of supplies that he handed to Cole. "Ok, this is all the boys' stuff for the next couple of days, if you need anything else, feel free to come by and grab it, but hopefully I've saved you a trip."

"Thanks, everything will be fine, you and Piper have a great uh… rekindling of married life."

Leo grinned, taking Piper's hand in his. She just wrinkled her nose at Cole, "Get your mind out of the gutter, and don't say stuff like that around the boys."

Cole laughed and clapped Leo on the shoulder, "Go quick, before she changes her mind!"

"Thanks, man, really owe you one for this, see you in a couple of days!" Leo said as he orbed out.

Cole turned around and Wyatt was already there with the Book of Shadows in hand. "Okay Uncle Cole! You promised we'd do some magic!"

They could hear rustling and bubbling from the kitchen when they orbed in, each holding a kid in their arms.

"Ok ready?" Paige asked.

Kyle nodded in response, "you go first."

She pushed the swinging door open to see Wyatt and Chris standing on step stools, one watching and one stirring a bubbling pot. The Book of Shadows was open next to them, and Cole stood close enough to them to protect them in case anything went wrong, but far enough away that the kids felt like they were making the potion He was nodding as Chris and Wyatt read the spell. As they finished, the contents of the pot glowed blue and then froze. The wooden spatula Chris had been using stopped moving once the liquid around it became solid and Chris petulantly threw up his hands, "not working!"

Wyatt moaned, "not again! Uncle Cole, what happened this time?"

"Why don't you read over the ingredients again and see if maybe you forgot something?" He waved his hand over the pot and the blue mess disappeared.

"Does your mom know you're making potions?" Paige wondered aloud, raising an eyebrow at Cole.

"Mom left us for Greece, so we can do whatever Uncle Cole says. And Uncle Cole says we can make potions!"

"A harmless potion," Cole said shrugging, "that was supposed to put out fire."

"You were making water?" Kyle asks sarcastically, shifting Amy to his other side.

" _Demonic_ fire," Cole clarifies.

"Whatever, good luck explaining it to Piper… speaking of, has she left yet?" Paige asks.

"Sure, a few hours ago. Why? And why are the twins here?" Cole asks, the innocent tone in Paige's voice immediately arousing suspicion.

"Well, good question Cole!" She said, looking to Kyle, who continues, "Our charges are all underground at the moment—"

"—which as you know is really rare!" Paige interjects excitedly.

"—so we have the night off and we were thinking—"

"—oh no! No you don't! I've got my hands full already." Cole says, holding up his hands.

"It's just one night! We'll be back in the morning."

"We'll make breakfast," Kyle volunteers.

"She can't cook!" Cole accuses.

Paige sputters, "wha— I can, too cook!"

Kyle puts his free arm over his wife's to stop her indignation, "Ok, well, _I'll_ cook. Paige will make coffee."

"Hey!" She says with a hurt expression.

"Still not going to happen, we had a deal, no watching multiple sets of babies at once, you can have your night off when Piper and Leo are back."

"But this will never happen again!" Paige says, setting Adam down on the floor as Kyle leans down to set Amy down as well, "hey you two your cousins are making fancy potions, go play with them!" The twins smile as Chris beckons them over to the floor where they're poring over the ingredient list, Wyatt making notes on a pad.

"Wait, I never agreed to—you can't just leave them here!" Cole shouts as Paige and Kyle orb out.

"Thanks dude!" Her voice echoes as Kyle says, "Promise breakfast will be amazing!"

The next morning, when the smell of fresh breakfast and coffee doesn't create a stampede of steps down the stairs, Paige decides to leave Kyle in the kitchen and check on the kids. She slowly opens the bedroom door to find a heartwarming scene. Cole is asleep, mouth slightly agape, fully clothed, and propped up against the bed. He's got one of her twins curled up under each of his arms. Piper's boys are dozing against his legs. At the foot of the bed, the Book of Shadows is open and a few empty glass jars are lying around. She tiptoes in for a closer look, and smiles as she sees the one potion they've finally mastered is a sleeping potion.


	6. Grounded

"Eww, gross!" She whines, covered head to toe in purple goo.

Chris is laughing and pointing at her.

"Get it off, Chris!"

Still laughing, he waives his arm and the purple goo orbs off of her into a pile.

She glares at him. "My clothes are still stained!"

Chris merely shrugs, shoulders still shaking, "Best I can do, cuz!"

She's still mad at him by the time they've returned to the Manor.

"—and how did you know that would happen anyway, I saw you take a step back after I threw the potion. You planned it all along, I swear—"

Hearing enough, Cole stepped in the laundry room and cleared his throat.

"Daddy!" She said, jumping in horror.

Chris also whipped around.

"Vanquishing demons?" Cole asks, a dangerous tone in his voice.

"No! We were just practicing potion making and—" Chris stammers.

"You're next kid," Cole silences Chris and then points a finger at his daughter, "Victoria Halliwell, you will tell me what demon you were vanquishing."

She groaned, "Just a low level Scavenger Demon, promise it was nothing serious."

"Victoria, you're grounded for the next 2 weeks. No driving, no shimmering, no parties, no demons."

"But Dad, Lucas' house party is this weekend and everyone who's anyone will be there and—"

"—you should have thought about that before you stirred that spatula young lady. Now go upstairs and get cleaned up. If I sense you teleporting anywhere else but your room, there will be even worse consequences."

"Ugh!" She shrieked, glaring at Chris as she teleported.

"Now you, Christopher, was this your idea?" Cole asked.

Chris shakes his head furiously. "I promise it wasn't Uncle Cole, you know Vicky is very gung ho about demons!"

Cole sighs, "she is, but you're her older, more experienced cousin. You're supposed to talk her out of these kinds of things. You and Wyatt were most definitely not skipping homework to vanquish demons at her age!"

Chris looks embarrassed, "I know I know, but she ambushed me with the potion in hand already and what was I supposed to do, I couldn't just let her go by herself, what if she needed help? What if there had been a more powerful demon that we'd found?"

Cole nods, "you're right, but you should have found a way to keep her here. You're still in trouble young man."

Chis sighs, "how long am I going to be grounded for?"

"Oh I'm not going to be grounding you," Cole says with a twinkle in his eye, "I'm going to tell your mother."

The horrified look on Chris' face is totally worth it. Even if all Cole does is call Piper and tell her that his son did a good thing today.


	7. Mahjong

"Wait, that's the last tile I need!" Paige exclaims. "I chow that and I have Mahjong!"

"Actually Paige, a pong takes precedence over a chow, so I'll be taking that," Cole says and he takes the 2 of sticks tile from Piper's hand. "And actually that gets me to Mahjong," he says calmly, unveiling his tiles with a flourish.

"Ugh," Paige groans, "that is so not fair."

Kyle nods, "wow this is a good hand, you're too good at this game Cole."

Piper agrees, "ok next time we play something you're not good at. Like… Scrabble!" (It was her favorite game)

Paige reveals her hand as well. "Look at that! It would have been a perfect dragon, arg and I've been waiting for that stupid 2 of sticks for so long."

Cole chuckles as he reaches over to her pile of fake money and takes his winnings. "Next time dear sister."

She makes a face at him.

Piper and Kyle throws him some of their coins as well. "Cole, maybe you can take some of this luck and win the lottery for us, hmm? Then we can all retire to some tropical island paradise," Piper says.

Kyle laughs, "you'd hate that Piper, you'd be bored out of your mind with nothing to worry about." Paige giggles as well and they high five.

"Hey! I am not a worrywart!"

"Um… yeah you are Piper. You'd go crazy with a normal life trust us" Phoebe calls, entering the sunroom with a pitcher of sweet tea. She fills up their glasses. "Ok Paige, well, does that mean you're out and I'm back in?"

"Yeah yeah," Paige grumbles, "good luck beating him, this lucky streak of his is never ending."

She gets up and Phoebe sits in her place, pushing the tiles back in the middle to be shuffled.

"I've never considered myself a lucky man, Paige," Cole says, looking with pure adoration at his beautiful wife. "Just blessed, I guess."


End file.
